October 22, 2011
As a young girl in our New York City apartment I always noticed the book shown in the lower photo on my mother’s bookshelf. It was printed in 1966 in London. I have no idea where it came from and I don’t think my mother ever visited Madrid. I was intrigued by the young girl on the cover, and I sometimes took the book down and leafed through the images of the paintings. For a long time I wanted to visit the Prado, which is supposedly one of the greatest art museums in the world. Trust me. It is. The Spanish Royal Family members were serious art collectors, dating back to the late 1500s. The collection consists of over 7000 pieces of art, mainly paintings, of which about half is on display. The emphasis is on Spanish painters, such as Velasquez, de Goya, and El Greco, but because the various kings and queens were quite sophisticated and wealthy, they were able to purchase art from all over Europe. What is notable about the collection is that all of it was acquired legitimately, by purchase or gift. None of it came as a result of war or theft. For example, when Peter Paul Rubens died, Philip IV sent an emissary to his estate auction in Antwerp to pick up a few masterpieces (not just Rubens paintings, but paintings that Rubens owned). Queen Christina of Sweden gave Phillip IV her copies of Albrecht Durer’s famous Adam and Eve paintings, because she knew his taste in art and thought he would appreciate them. Nice gift! In the 1600s Phillip IV significantly enlarged the royal family’s art collection. He also engaged Diego Velasquez as the court painter. Velasquez was such a great painter of portraits that I could really have an appreciation of what Phillip IV looked like, with a prominent Hapsburg chin and downward-slanting eyes. Another unusual thing about the Prado’s collections of paintings is that they have moved around very little, basically down the street from the palace. That fact, along with a generally dry climate, means that the paintings in the Prado are in excellent condition for their age. I spent hours in the Prado, and was never bored or weary.
As a young girl in our New York City apartment I always noticed the book shown in the lower photo on my mother’s bookshelf. It was printed in 1966 in London. I have no idea where it came from and I don’t think my mother ever visited Madrid. I was intrigued by the young girl on the cover, and I sometimes took the book down and leafed through the images of the paintings. For a long time I wanted to visit the Prado, which is supposedly one of the greatest art museums in the world. Trust me. It is. The Spanish Royal Family members were serious art collectors, dating back to the late 1500s. The collection consists of over 7000 pieces of art, mainly paintings, of which about half is on display. The emphasis is on Spanish painters, such as Velasquez, de Goya, and El Greco, but because the various kings and queens were quite sophisticated and wealthy, they were able to purchase art from all over Europe. What is notable about the collection is that all of it was acquired legitimately, by purchase or gift. None of it came as a result of war or theft. For example, when Peter Paul Rubens died, Philip IV sent an emissary to his estate auction in Antwerp to pick up a few masterpieces (not just Rubens paintings, but paintings that Rubens owned). Queen Christina of Sweden gave Phillip IV her copies of Albrecht Durer’s famous Adam and Eve paintings, because she knew his taste in art and thought he would appreciate them. Nice gift! In the 1600s Phillip IV significantly enlarged the royal family’s art collection. He also engaged Diego Velasquez as the court painter. Velasquez was such a great painter of portraits that I could really have an appreciation of what Phillip IV looked like, with a prominent Hapsburg chin and downward-slanting eyes. Another unusual thing about the Prado’s collections of paintings is that they have moved around very little, basically down the street from the palace. That fact, along with a generally dry climate, means that the paintings in the Prado are in excellent condition for their age. I spent hours in the Prado, and was never bored or weary.
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